Staff at West Seattle HIgh School have voted to have a "rolling four" schedule as its framework next year over the more traditional six-period day.

The public is invited to express their questions and concerns at a schedule committee meeting on May 27 at 2:45 p.m. The meeting is open to the entire public.

The committee will be working toward determine details, such as start and end time, breaks, exact length of periods and special schedules.

Under a typical rolling schedule, students would attend six, 55-minute periods Monday and Friday. The remaining three school days will be four, 85-minute periods. Though these details are yet to be determined.

Detailed schedule options will be presented to staff for a vote before the end of this school year.

West Seattle High School's four-period day schedule has been supported by a majority of its staff since 2006. The proposal to convert to a six-period day was driven by parents and some staff who did not like that classes are on average larger than with six periods and have fewer hours of instruction per credit.

Supporters of the four-period day say having longer classes allows for more teacher-student personalization and better opportunity for in-depth learning.

Students take eight classes in one year with four periods instead of six, and courses that are completed in a year at other high schools last an entire semester with the block schedule.

West Seattle High School has organized its curriculum into a four-period day for the past 12 years. The school offers four 85-minute periods each semester.

Typically, high schools in Seattle have six, 55-minute periods a day. West Seattle High students take eight different courses a year, while those with a six-period day take six.

West Seattle High has operated on a four-period schedule for the past 15 years. The school has had to obtain a waiver from the state Superintendent of Public Instruction to operate on that schedule.